Defense questions Novak's ex-girlfriend

Wednesday

Aug 21, 2013 at 2:00 AM

MONTICELLO — Paul Novak's former lover Michelle LaFrance acknowledged on Tuesday she was once highly promiscuous, had numerous affairs with married men, went on drinking binges and was admitted to a psychiatric lock-up unit at a Florida hospital in 2010.

Victor Whitman

MONTICELLO — Paul Novak's former lover Michelle LaFrance acknowledged on Tuesday she was once highly promiscuous, had numerous affairs with married men, went on drinking binges and was admitted to a psychiatric lock-up unit at a Florida hospital in 2010.

LaFrance answered dispassionately, "yes, sir" and "no, sir" as Novak's defense attorney Gary Greenwald questioned her for several hours on the most intimate details of her life before a Sullivan County jury.

Novak is on trial for first-degree murder and other crimes, accused of strangling his estranged wife, Catherine, on Dec. 13, 2008, and burning down their Lava home to cover up the crime and collect insurance payoffs.

LaFrance, one of two key witnesses, implicated Novak in April 2012 after first providing him with an alibi. She testified last week that she knew aspects of Novak's plan, and watched him mix chloroform in the attic of their Glen Cove apartment the night of the alleged murder. She said Novak told her the details about two weeks after the fire.

Greenwald began his cross examination on Tuesday, peppering her with questions in an attempt to reveal LaFrance as unstable and a liar.

She admitted that she got blind drunk on a visit to her Long Island hometown of Mattituck while she was still living with Novak. The inebriated LaFrance crossed the street topless, and tried to deliver her neighbor's mail. Police were called and she woke up in the hospital. She couldn't remember the incident. Her mother told her it took six officers to restrain her and she had to be tied to a tree.

LaFrance also described the incident that landed her in a lockdown unit in Florida in April 2010. She said she got drunk after an argument with Novak, then went upstairs and got into the bathtub fully clothed with a knife block. Novak and LaFrance's brother drove her to the hospital.

LaFrance acknowledged she took numerous medications for depression, anxiety and a heart problem, among other medical problems. She attempted suicide at age 15, where she was diagnosed with an impulse control disorder.

Greenwald also brought out a few inconsistencies in LaFrance's April 2012 statement to state police investigators.

She told investigators that Novak paid off her student loan with insurance payments gained from Catherine's death. But on Tuesday, LaFrance testified that her father paid all of her college bills. She also claimed to state police to be the valedictorian at Stonybrook, the top student in her class at paramedic school. Greenwald submitted a letter from the college that said it has no record she was the valedictorian. She scored lower than some other students on the final exam.

Greenwald also asked LaFrance about Novak's confessed accomplice, Scott Sherwood. Sherwood, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, has confessed to driving Novak up to Sullivan County and is expected to testify next week.

LaFrance said she knew Sherwood and his then-girlfriend, Elise Hanlon, socially through Paul Novak. LaFrance also worked on Sherwood's ambulance a few times at Jamaica Hospital in Queens. She recalled the 6-foot 9-inch Sherwood standing on the curb, screaming at firemen as paramedics were stabilizing a gunshot victim.

"It was dangerous to be his partner," LaFrance said. "You couldn't trust him."